Numerical investigation of nanofluid mixed convection in a T-shaped cavity by considering a thermal barrier

Abstract

In this study, the numerical investigation of Al2O3-Water nanofluid mixed convection in a T-shaped lid-driven cavity in the presence of a thermal barrier with positioning at different positions is investigated by the two-phase mixture model. Variable parameters in this study are the cavity aspect ratio (AR), the volume fraction of nanoparticles (ϕ), Richardson numbers (Ri), and different thermal barrier placements in the cavity. The results indicated that the increase in the Richardson number leads to an increase in the local and average Nusselt number (Nuave) and heat transfer. Increasing the ϕ also increases the heat transfer while increasing the aspect ratio decreases the heat transfer. Regarding the geometrical position of the thermal barrier, the results show that the geometrical position of the thermal barrier near the lid has the highest heat transfer and the Nusselt number. Numerical investigation of nanofluid mixed convection in a T-shaped cavity by considering a thermal barrier is the originality of this work.

Keywords

• Heat transfer
• Mixed convection
• Nanofluid
• Mixture model
• Cavity
• Richardson number